Sell what they want, when they want to buy it.

I saw an article about how the low- and mid-range retailers had a bad quarter. They all blamed the economy, the war, the mood of the public, anything except what the people not buying their stuff are saying: You're pushing crap we don't want, and in the wrong season.

You could publish a K-Mart catalog of women's clothes from 1969 and people would have to check the prices to see if it was this year's catalog. Not everyone wants to relive that. And with the late cold this year, by the time people actually wanted to go out and buy sweaters and long coats the only thing on the racks was shorts and swimwear.

The fashion and retail industries haven't started listening yet, but according to the analysts we've finally found out just how far you can push people before they decide they don't want to buy ugly shorts in January.